Wowhaus: Scott Constable and Ene Osteraas Constable

One important thing to know about Wowhaus, the husband and wife design team of Scott Constable and Ene Osteraas Constable, is that there really is a Wow House.

When the couple's young daughter first ventured inside the narrow, open- air shed her father had erected in the backyard, all she could say, over and over again, was "Wow." Soon, this secluded garden studio where Scott draws architectural renderings and constructs models came to be known as the Wow House, not only to the Constable family but also to their friends, who began to identify all small, stand-alone spaces by this name. So in 1999, when Ene and Scott decided to formalize their already burgeoning design business, Wowhaus logically became the couple's commercial identity.

The Oakland studio functions more like a collective (albeit a tiny one) than a corporation, with plans and projects evolving continually. Furniture design is the backbone of the company, but the couple has embarked on several large scale endeavors of both the orthodox (a Napa restaurant interior) and esoteric (a roving radio station) variety. Even their home designs lean toward the surreal. One of the pair's signature projects is the Treenest, a rough- hewn variation on the traditional childhood haunt designed for young and old alike.

While Scott says he feels an affinity with the sle